Opening Night Concert
Our online box office for this concert has now closed. Tickets will be available to buy on the door. Please note we can only accept payment by cash on the door.
Download the concert programmeTime & Date:
7.00pm, Friday 27 May 2022
Venue:
Priory Church of St George, Church Street, Dunster, TA24 6SH
Who:
Aurora Percussion Duo: Delia Stevens & Le Yu
Tickets:
£20/£15/£10 (see seating plan in the picture gallery)
** We have a limited number of £1 tickets available for 8-25 year olds – first come first served! These tickets must be booked in advance and will not be available on the door.**
Running Time:
Approximately 2 hours, including a 20-minute interval
Programme Info:
The award-winning Aurora Percussion Duo present a centuries-spanning programme for Dunster Festival’s opening evening concert. Performing on a dazzling array of instruments, Delia and Le’s concert will include works by JS Bach, Ravel and Piazzolla alongside pieces written specially for the duo in a recital which is certain to captivate from the first note to the last.
Artist Biographies
Aurora Duo
Since 2010, Delia Stevens and Le Yu have made it their mission to redefine the art of percussion.
Winners of the 60th edition of the prestigious Royal Overseas League Ensemble Award in 2012 and alumni of the Park Lane Group Young Artist Scheme, Aurora have since received invitations to perform at the Wigmore Hall, Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, The Bridgewater Hall, The Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, as well as the Edinburgh Festival (live on BBC Radio 3), the Lucerne Festival and for the Royal Family. The duo has undertaken three sell-out tours of China, giving performances and masterclasses in some of the country’s most prestigious concert halls and conservatoires including headlining the RNCM Day of Percussion.
Described as ‘superb’ by the Financial Times and ‘extraordinary’ by Classical Source,
Aurora Percussion Duo produce adrenaline-fueled concert performances which are visually spectacular, physically demanding and presented with the artistry of dedicated chamber musicians. Aurora concert programmes present a vast repertoire of music spanning centuries from Bach to the present day, whilst exploring instruments from the five-octave marimba to the humble egg shaker.
Aurora are constantly expanding the repertoire for percussion duo and continue to commission established and upcoming composers to write for them such as Graham Fitkin, Adam Gorb and Andy Scott. They also create their own arrangements of works by more familiar composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Piazzolla and Bach, whilst exploring the explosive virtuosity and innovation belonging to the core percussion duo literature.
Following a sabbatical, Aurora made a return to the concert platform in March 2017 alongside pianists Kathryn Stott and Jeremy Young for a performance of the Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion at the RNCM Chamber Music Festival and have since given a 15-date tour of China and performance highlights include the Bridgewater Hall’s Manchester Midday Concert Series and the Swaledale Festival, both of which have invited them back for their 2021 seasons.
“Delia Stevens and Le Yu are extraordinary performers. The intimate and sinuous flow of leadership between them was a joy to watch” – Peter Reed, Classical Source
“Percussion groups always have the unfair advantage of their eye-catching array of bizarre instruments, but this duo transcended that and showed real musicality.” – Ivan Hewett, Daily Telegraph
“The Aurora Percussion Duo were terrific, zooming in on the wildly differing characters of each piece with immensely attractive sense of engagement, both with the music and with the audience.” – Classical Source
“The superb Aurora Percussion Duo…” – Andrew Clark, Financial Times
“Aurora Percussion Duo unite with exactitude and give performances of high physicality.”
– Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian
Website: www.aurorapercussionduo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/auroraperc
Twitter/Instagram: @auroraperc